Depp, Clooney on the Street

Johnny Depp and George Clooney, unemployed? Yes, reports Variety, now that their project together, the $30 million-plus movie “Confessions of a Dangerous Mind,” based on some adventures of onetime “Gong Show” producer-host Chuck Barris, has been shelved due to a reputed financing snag. Barris, who would have been played by Depp, claims to have moonlighted as a CIA hit man. Clooney’s role would have been that of a recruiting agent for the agency. The movie apparently has been trying to get off the ground for some time, since the 1984 publication of Barris’s memoir of the same title. It was London-based Renaissance Films that reportedly pulled the plug on the picture, which was to have started shooting before this June 1 (which is when a writers and actors strike is threatened in Hollywood). Attempts to have partnered with another production company never reached fruition, said Variety.